Obrienrx.com

Reprinted from
Kansas City Wellness Magazine*
You think about the potato that’s baking in the oven and your digestive juices stir. As you chew and swallow the first luscious bite, your saliva glands secrete enzymes that begin to digest certain foods. Remember, if you don’t chew enough, the food isn’t mixed with the enzymes and the food particles As you swallow, that morsel pulses through your esophagus and into your stomach. The stomach Lisa Everett, Pharmacist, RPh., CCN
churns the food in acids to further break down the chemical bonds unaffected by saliva. While you wash the dishes, your stomach continues this he Chinese have a saying: “Death begins in churning and acid bathing process. Gradually, the gut.” Now that Prilosec® is available as you’re settling into a good book, the food is T over-the-counter, millions of people will reduced to a warm, pasty substance called chyme self-medicate with this potent drug for weeks, months, even years. Antacids line the shelves in millions of medicine cabinets. They rattle around in Enzymes from the intestine and other organs purses, pockets, glove compartments, desk drawers (notably the pancreas) contribute to breaking down and kitchen cabinets. People use them because the chyme so the small intestine can absorb all the they’ve been misled to believe that producing sto- vitamins, minerals and nutrients that potato has to mach acid is a disease and antacids are the cure. offer. The large intestine gets the undigested chyme, toxins and waste, absorbs the water and prepares The truth is, long-term use of Prilosec and similar drugs is harmful to your health. To understand the dangers of long-term Prilosec use, we need to Taking antacids interfere with the digestive process understand the function of a healthy digestive by suppressing, neutralizing and controlling gastric acidity. In fact, interfering with any part of diges- tion thwarts the conversion of food into energy. The How We Take in Food and why it Matters
body then becomes malnourished and more toxic, The digestive tract begins the incredible assignment which interferes with all our functioning, from of converting food into energy, while protecting our sterile, internal body from the bacteria, fungus, dis- ease and toxins we ingest. What you take into your Good Flora, Bad Flora
body and how it enters your system profoundly Amazingly, the surface area of the gut is roughly the size of a football field, and is covered with deli- cate, hard-working bacteria (microflora) that are The process begins even before you sit down to eat easily disrupted by unhealthy foods, toxins, (you are going to eat sitting down, aren’t you?). antibiotics and contaminants. In fact, a healthy Eating dairy products along with dysbiosis under- gut has more good bacteria than there are cells in the entire human body. This expanse of hundreds species of flora keeps us healthy as they: • Diarrhea alternating with constipation • Produce natural antibiotics that kill pathogens (dis- • Acid reflux—heartburn, Gastro Esophageal • Crowd out pathogens—there is no room for patho- • Produce half our vitamins B6 and B12. • Aid in food absorption and digestion. • Crohn’s disease (an inflammatory bowel disease) • Maintain the lining of the intestinal wall. Good bac- teria help to produce new cells to rebuild the intes- • Ulcerative colitis—Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) • Celiac Sprue—intolerance to gluten, which can re- • Boost the immune system—these good bacteria sult in chronic diarrhea, weight loss, and Many on-going digestive issues are due to depleted microflora in the intestines. Gut flora become • Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome depleted from taking antibiotics or from exposure • Depression and other brain dysfunctions to antibiotics in foods. According to the non-profit organization, Environmental Defense, an astonish- ing 70% of all antibiotics and related drugs in this For Americans, the gastrointestinal tract is a com- country are fed to chickens, cows and pigs. mon denominator for many other diseases and health issues. It’s hard to stay healthy when our gut Other medications, such as Prilosec®, Tagamet®, is compromised by poor diet and nutrition, lack of or Nexium® can upset the pH balance, which exercise, and the ingestion of antacids and other contributes to the depletion of good bacteria. When these good bacteria are diminished, we experience dysbioisis, an imbalance of intestinal flora. Pathogens can grow out of control, destroy- ing necessary enzymes and interfering with proper *Reprinted from Kansas City Wellness Magazine, digestion and the health of the “skin” that lines the Lisa Everett is a pharmacist, board-certified clini- The toxins from pathogenic organisms erode the cal nutritionist and co-owner of O’Brien Pharmacy stomach and gut linings. Many foods such as dairy and the Kansas City Holistic Centre in Kansas City, products irritate the lining of the gut. Most people Missouri. She can be reached at 816-531-6763 or have some degree of intestinal erosion due to dairy products, medications, past infections and antibio- tics, toxins accumulated from food, and water, dysbiosis, and food allergies. We absorb toxins leading to a more chronic condition called autointoxication—an accumulation of poisons in our other organs. Autointoxication leads to a multitude of systemic diseases.

Source: http://www.obrienrx.com/doc_pdf/documentation_articles/The%20Truth%20about%20Antacids%20Part%201.pdf